A Mother's Visit
by Storms of Fire
Summary: Applefire gets a visit from her mother one night while dreaming, and things go wrong quickly. This was not the same mother that she remembered. For a forum challenge.


**This is written for a challenge in the FoxClan forum. The challenge is:**

 **A mother has died and gone to the dark forest. She appears in her kit's dreams and tries to persuade them to turn against the warrior code.**

 **Note:**

 **The following contains some dark content in it. Possibly the most dark I have ever written for a Warriors fanfic. Anyway...**

 **Enjoy. :)**

 **\- Storm -**

My heart skipped a beat as I saw the figure in front of me. I hadn't seen _her_ since the flood. The last time I ever set eyes on her was when the current crashed into her, sweeping her away. The body was never found, at yet here she stood in front of my very eyes.

 _A-Am I dreaming?_ I wondered to myself. My heartbeat quickened into a rapid pace. The only sound that could be heard. _Thump, thump, thump._ Nothing else. No birds. No wind. No small creatures scurrying through the leaves. Nothing.

The place was so dark, too. I glanced quickly up at the sky before turning my gaze back to the she-cat. No moon, no stars. Where was I.

"M-Mom..." I managed to stamper out as the figure came into full view. It was a long haired silver tabby she-cat. She had a chunk of her left ear missing and it looked as though patches of fur had fallen off of her pelt. Her amber colored eyes were dulled, as though they belonged to a dead cat. It sent chills down my spin.

The she-cat nodded, but did not speak.

"W-What are you doing here..." I asked. My voice was small. I barely recognized it to be my own.

Moments more of nothingness. The quiet was un nerving. So much so that my claws unsheathed and dug into the soft soil.

"I am hear to speak to you." The she-cat said. Her voice cut through the silence. It was cold. Not a drop of emotion could be found there.

Whoever this was, it wasn't my mother. "G-Get away from me!" I spat. I could feel the hair along my spine raising.

"Calm yourself, Applefire, my daughter." The cat spoke again. "I am your mother." She said that as though she could read my mind, but that was impossible. "I am the same cat who gave birth to you and raised you."

"N-No!" I shouted, not wanting to believe that this dull eyed, emotionless cat was the same one who had brought me into into this world and who had taught me right from wrong. And if this truly was my mother, then what had happened to her? What had caused her to become like this?

The she-cat sighed, shaking her head. I wanted to run. I wanted to run and get far away from this cat, but my paws seemed to be rooted to the ground.

"You are going nowhere." The cat mewed, taking a step closer to me. I could see her closer now. Her fur was matted in places and she smelled of fox dung and crow food. There was a long scar on her flank that I didn't remember her having.

"What happened to you..." I whispered. Tears burned in my eyes at the sight. I wanted so badly to get away. To not look anymore. The sight upset me, mixed in with the sickening smell.

"What do you mean, what happened to me?" She asked, making a full circle around me. "Oh, this? Take a good look at it. This is what happens when StarClan betrays you. This is what happens when you are swept away by a flood and no one bothers to come help you."

Her words chilled me to the bone.

"You are insane!' I spat. "StarClan didn't betray betray you! And I never stopped looking for you!"

"Foxdung!" My mother hissed at me. "StarClan doesn't care about us. Do you think they really care if you get hurt? Do you really think they care if you get sick? Do you really think they care at all? They will turn their backs to you when when you need them most."

"No!" I cried out, frantically shaking my head. "No your wrong!" Tears soaked my cheeks. I couldn't take it any any longer. My body was trembling. "M-Mom... what really happened to you..." I whispered.

"You really want to know what happened to me?" The she-cat asked. "StarClan betrayed me. The allowed the flood to wash me away. They allowed my Clan not to care enough to find me. They allowed a sharp rock to impale me." I remembered that long scar along her flank. "They allowed me to live after the rock impaled me. I crawled up the riverbank, blood gushing from the wound and mixing with the water. I collapsed there, wishing for the pain to end. But it got worse. I was forced to crawl even further away from the river. I had to endure the pain of infection setting in. Where was StarClan then!" She spat.

I felt myself getting sick to my stomach at my mother's story.

"So I cursed at StarClan."

Her next words almost caused my heart to stop.

"And I swore against them. I swore, as I laid there dying, to never look to them again. And I am here to ask you to do the same."

"W-What..." I stampered. How could I ever turn against them. "What about the Warrior Code? What about honoring it?"

"There is no honor in the code. There is no honor in StarClan." My mother growled.

I gulped, my body trembling even more. "N-No... you are wrong... you have to be..." my breathing was becoming heavy. If I was dreaming, then I wished I could wake up. I wished I could get away from this nightmare. I had always looked up to my mother. My whole life I did. She had raised me, taught me my first hunter's crouch. My father wasn't around. He never was. By the time I was born, he was padding after another she-cat, but my mother didn't let it bother her. She did what was best for her only child.

No. This wasn't my mother. This couldn't be. The Silverfur that I knew just wouldn't turn her back on everything that she knew, loved and respected.

"You're a monster..." I whispered.

"What did you just say?" The she-cat growled, glaring at me. For a moment her amber eyes met my green ones.

"I said you're a m-monster..." I was able to get out again. "You are not my mother!"

A searing pain burst from my left cheek as she claws connected with me. I could feel my fur dampen as fresh blood seeped from the new wound.

"You will not disrespect me," her tone was eerily calm. "For I am your mother."

I gulped. I glanced down at her paws. Her claws were unsheathed and a scarlet liquid glistened on her right paw's claws.

It couldn't be my mother. Or at least the mother I knew. With a sick twistening knot in my stomach, I was beginning to realize the reality of the situation. The mother that I had come to love, the mother that I had respected and looked up to had died and all that remained was this hollow shell of her former self. In her last few hours, among the pain, she had gone insane. She had blamed StarClan for what had happened. She had turned away from them. My mother had to still be in there somewhere. I just had to find a way to get her out. Right? I could still save her. Not all was lost. I had to keep telling myself that. I had to believe it. I couldn't let my mother go.

And now she wanted me to turn against StarClan just as she had done. She wanted me to forget about the Warrior Code and join her. But I couldn't. I couldn't just throw all that away. I loved my Clan. I even had a mate and kits of my own that I would do anything for. What would they think if I turned against all I believed in just like that?

"Mom..." I whispered. I so desperately wanted to bring her back to reality. I wanted her to see the light. I wanted her to see that StarClan and the Warrior Code was not bad. I wanted my mother back. "Mom... this is not like you. The Warrior Code, it meaned everything to you. So did StarClan. Remember, when I was just a kit? Remember how you would tell me stories about how each star was a warrior from the past and that they had come to rest on the silverpelt? Remember how you spoke so kindly, so fondly of them?"

"That was before they turned their back on me!" Silverfur spat.

"Mom, they did not turn their back on you!" I cried out. "They couldn't help you, even though they wanted to! They wanted you to be safe! They didn't want you to feel the pain you did, but they couldn't stop it!" I was hoping, praying that she would understand. I hated seeing my mother like this. I hated what she had become.

"You are lying!" My mom hissed, slashing my other cheek. I felt the blood ooze from it too, rolling down to join the other stream of crimson liquid at my chin. The two wounds - though small - stung. But they didn't hurt as much as much as my heart did. It was throbbing as though someone had sunk their claws into it. The pain of a physical wound was nothing compared to the heart break I was feeling inside.

"Mom please..." I begged. "Listen to me. I am not lying. It is the truth. StarClan does care. They care very much for every one of us. Don't throw that away. Don't throw it all away!"

"You have to join me!" I wasn't getting through at all. My mother wasn't listening to a single word I was saying. I tried to run but my paws still seemed to be rooted to the ground. I wanted out of here, I wanted to get far away. I wanted to just forget this whole night. I wanted to forget the look of my mother in her ragged form, spitting out insults about StarClan.

"I will not join you..." I whispered. I could feel the tears again. They rolled down my cheeks, connecting with the wound on each cheek. It burned as they did, but I ignored the feeling. I kept playing what my mother had said over and over in my mind.

 _There is no honor in the code. There is no honor in StarClan._

 _There is no honor in the code. There is no honor in StarClan._

 _There is no honor in the code._

 _There is no honor in StarClan._

My fur was standing on end, bristling out in ever direction. Chills ran down my spine and my heart beat against my chest. Even if I could run, the image of my mother shouting those words would still be implanted in my mind. I trembled, looking at Silverfur.

"Mom..." I whispered, my tone pleading. "Please... I don't want to join you... I want to live by the Warrior Code. I want to respect StarClan..."

"If that is your wish." My mom's voice was cold. In one blink of the eye to the next she was on top of me, pinning me down. "Then so be it."

I gasped and squirmed, trying to kick her off, but I couldn't. "What are you doing!" I cried out.

"What I should have done at the start." My mother - the cat who gave birth to me and raised me - then sank her teeth deep into my throat, holding down as I gasped and squirmed. There was a gargling sound as blood filled my lungs.

The last thing I heard before everything went black was:

"You should have joined me."

 **End. Woah that was dark.**

 **Please review!**

 **\- Storm -**


End file.
